Safety, injury prevention and first aid
Safety, injury prevention and first aid tests your ability to identify hazards, reduce risk and respond correctly to common injuries. Answers should follow accepted first-aid priorities and avoid dangerous improvisation.
Prevention
Risk assessment identifies hazards, who may be harmed and the controls. Check equipment, surfaces, footwear, hydration, weather and supervision ratios. A warm-up prepares tissue; correct technique and gradual progression reduce overuse injury. An emergency action plan should name who calls emergency services, who gives first aid and where the AED is kept.
First aid
- Acute soft-tissue injury: use RICE - rest, ice, compression, elevation - for about 20 minutes at a time, with ice wrapped in cloth.
- Concussion: remove from play, do not allow same-day return, and seek medical assessment.
- Bleeding: apply direct pressure with gloves or a barrier.
- Unresponsive casualty: check danger, response, airway and breathing; call emergency services; start CPR if not breathing normally and use an AED as soon as available.
Worked example
A player rolls an ankle and it swells. Stop play, assess for deformity and severe pain, apply RICE and arrange assessment. Do not ask the player to run it off, apply heat or massage the area. The reasoning is to limit bleeding and swelling and avoid worsening tissue damage.
Traps
Applying heat in the first 48 hours; moving a suspected spinal injury; returning a concussed player to the same game; delaying emergency services for an unresponsive casualty.